![Item #377916 [Partly-printed document signed, by Maryland patriot Joshua Stevenson, a receipt for flour issued to Thomas Amos, "in virtue of the act of assembly, entitled, An act for the immediate supply of flour and other provisions for the army...]. American Revolution.](https://jamescumminsbookseller.cdn.bibliopolis.com/pictures/377916.jpg?width=768&height=1000&fit=bounds&auto=webp&v=1779298341)
[Partly-printed document signed, by Maryland patriot Joshua Stevenson, a receipt for flour issued to Thomas Amos, "in virtue of the act of assembly, entitled, An act for the immediate supply of flour and other provisions for the army...].
[Annapolis?]: March 3, 1780.
Price: $750.00
About the item
1p. Usual folds.
Item #377916
At the beginning of December 1779, Washington and his army began their winter encampment at Morristown, New Jersey. With the difficulties of the previous winter at Valley Forge fresh to mind, and with some 10,000 soldiers to house, clothe and feed, Washington issued a circular to the states on December 16, 1779 asking for help: “The situation of the Army with respect to supplies is beyond description alarming, it has been five or six Weeks past on half allowance, and we have not three days Bread or a third allowance on hand nor any where within reach.”
The new Governor of Maryland Thomas Sim Lee responded quickly, shepherding through an emergency act of the Assembly "for the immediate supply of flour and other provisions for the army," sending Washington a copy of the Act on December 26 of that year. Three days later, Lee issued a proclamation to the same effect: "I do therefore most earnestly intreat, conjure, require and enjoin all Justices of the Peace, sheriffs and their deputies, constables, and all other good citizens of this State by that love of their country, that patriotic zeal and magnanimity which have hitherto distinguished their conduct in the present Glorious contest for life, liberty, and property; to exert themselves to the utmost at this critical emergency, in procuring and furnishing flour, and other provisions for the immediate relief of the army, in their present alarming distress, and rendering easy assistance to the Commissars, in carrying the said law into execution."
The present partly-printed form was produced as a receipt for flour collected to that end, with the provider promised current market price for the goods, plus six percent interest. On this form, ten and a half bushels of wheat were collected from Thomas Amos for £202.10. A scarce war-time Maryland document.
